Chapter 9: The X Files
January 1st 2000
The Great Pyramid
Giza, Egypt
23:56
A silence fell over the vast crowd as an ancient and secret ceremony was played out. Anyone watching it would have laughed – Cancerman had to stifle his laughter – but the participants took it very seriously. They were right to, because – although the ceremony had no real significance to any religion or God or ancient wisdom – the moment deserved a pageant of grandeur to mark it. The chosen man descended towards the outer seal and recited the words some historian had unearthed. They meant nothing. The earth did not shake. Thunder did not crash. There was no lightening blot across the heavens. It was a stick of dynamite that blasted the intricately fashioned Great Seal into smithereens.
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The Inner Seal
Under the Great Pyramid
23:56
Jeremiah Smith stood passively in the cool of the tunnel. He looked the part dressed in the robes which the alien had obviously intended to wear for it’s grand entrance into the 21st century. Scully stood next to him, straightening the rich golden fabric.
“There. *Now* you look like a God.” She told him.
“Not bad for a drone.” He commented flatly.
“Have you planned what to say?” Scully asked, with a quirk of her lips.
“No. I’ll say what seems right.” He told her seriously.
“I don’t suppose you know how Mulder and I are supposed to get out of here?”
“This is the only way out as far as I know.” He informed her.
“Great!” She murmured, then looked up at him and smiled. “I guess I’d better go check on Mulder. Good luck.” She touched his arm, smiled again and began to move away.
“Dana,” He called, stopping her. “Take a look at the piece of wall the alien pointed at.” Scully’s brow creased in confusion. Then the floor shook violently. They both stumbled but stayed on their feet. “They’ve broken through the outer seal.” Smith finished quickly. “Go!”
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January 2nd 2000
The Great Pyramid
00:00
The inner seal was easier to breach and the crowd held it’s breath as the chosen man moved forward. He was ready to enter the promised library of knowledge, the hall of records, the ancient knowledge of Atlantis.
He stopped as a man walked through the settling dust towards him.
The man was tall and broad, with disturbing blue eyes and collar-length blond hair. His golden robe sparkled unnaturally in the artificial light from the floodlights.
He walked with his palms upturned, outstretched in a gesture of peace.
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The Consortium’s Viewing Box
00:01
The men watched on the giant television screen as the tiny figure emerged. Wide smiles spread across all of their faces, with the notable exceptions of Cancerman and of Samantha Mulder. The shadowy men rejoiced as their new world was born.
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Oakley Village
Hampshire, UK
22:01 GMT
The bee hive was opened.
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The labyrinth
00:02
Scully hurried back through the tunnels that led to the main chamber. She found Mulder once again trying to move from his prone position on the floor.
“You needn’t bother Mulder, it looks like we wont be leaving for a while.”
“Why?” He asked, after managing to sit up. Scully sat down on the floor opposite him.
“Guess which is the only way out.” She answered him sardonically. He groaned.
“So we’re gonna miss the party.” He returned sarcastically. She nodded, then her face froze and she turned around to face the wall.
“Scully? What’s up?” Mulder asked. Scully stood up and went over to the carvings.
“Is this the direction the alien pointed in?” She questioned.
“I think so. Why?” Mulder answered, standing up painfully and joining her. Together they crouched to look at the large carved picture. Together their eyes widened. They turned simultaneously to look at each other.
The carving was a photographic quality rendering of Scully plunging the spike into the alien’s neck.
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The Consortium’s Viewing Box
00:04
Samantha whispered into Cancerman’s ear and he finally smiled. He gestured to one of the armed guards at the doorway, who spoke into his walkie-talkie, and the room was shortly filled with armed guards. They each stepped up to one of the shadow men and aimed the high caliber rifles at them.
The Well Manicured Man stood up – despite the rifle leveled at him – and faced Cancerman.
“What is the meaning of this?” He demanded. Cancerman pointed to the figure addressing the spell-bound audience.
“That is the renegade Jeremiah Smith and he is acting under my control.” He stated flatly. The Well Manicured Man smiled patronisingly back at him.
“Control?” He asked.
“I’m taking control of the project.” Cancerman told him.
“You cannot control Them.” The man warned.
“But they will have to deal with me and me alone.” Cancerman smoothly countered. “Take them away.” He ordered the soldiers. The shadow men were removed to an unknown fate. Cancerman had plans for them.
As he reached the door the Well Manicured Man turned and addressed Samantha.
“Trust no one.” He told her, before he was ushered out.
**************************
The main chamber
00:13
Mulder and Scully didn’t even notice the time as they scanned the images carved into the walls of the chamber. The past, present and future of the human race on Earth was written here. The images played before them seeming vibrant and alive. A living chronicle of a species. The beginning; the alien landing and changing the race forever with minor genetic alterations. The middle; everything from the stone age, through to the space age, and right into new age. Important historical figures had their places; leaders, visionaries, healers, revolutionaries. The best of men through to the scum of history. All revered in stone on this wall. A photograph album of his children kept by a loving father.
But it went further. It foretold the future. A plague. The death of a species. Then the birth of a new species. Pre-ordained. Not a prophecy but a plan. A project. A colony.
That wasn’t what necessarily scared Scully the most. It was the carving of her and Mulder during their first meeting in his basement office that held that honour. Great figures of history where on this wall – and here *they* were. It was not the only carving of them. The later ones were full of images of a couple – a tall dark man and a small red-haired woman – all from a distance but not likely to be a pure coincidence.
“I told you it was rigged from the start, didn’t I Scully?” Mulder said trying to lighten the heavy mood which had descended on the chamber. Scully didn’t even think of smiling.
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The Viewing Room
00:21
Samantha paced back and forth, doubt eating at her. He was up to something. The Cancerman had a plan that he hadn’t told her about. She saw all that Mulder and Scully saw in the chamber deep beneath the Great Pyramid, but it didn’t correlate with what he had told her he planned to do. He said that he would *save* the human race. Samantha had a deep suspicion that he actually had no such intention. He wanted to save himself and no one else.
On the wall, on the giant TV screen behind her, down below on the desert plane, Jeremiah Smith still held the crowd enthralled. He was currently levitating.
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The spaceship
The main chamber
00:30
Mulder stepped inside the spaceship and gazed around in awe at the control centre of the craft. The surfaces were featureless and the same shade of dull metallic bluish-greyish. Mulder strode in with childish excitement. Scully followed with less enthusiasm.
As they walked through the doorway a blue light lit up on a otherwise empty grey panel. It began to flash rhythmically. Words start to flow – suprisingly in English – across another panel.
Systems – Check
Engines – Check
Life support – Check
The list continued and got more specific with each cycle.
Mulder traced a hand over the smooth metallic surfaces, under his touch they began to glow with white light.
“Mulder, would you come here a second please!?” Scully called out suddenly, horror evident in her voice. Just then the door to the spaceship slammed shut.
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The Viewing Box
00:39
Maggie Scully arrived in the room expecting to find someone there. The room was empty. She looked up at the screen and saw Jeremiah Smith laying hands onto a man in a wheelchair. The man stood up and walked a few seconds later. Maggie had seen that trick before. It was a parlour game to Them. It didn’t matter to her. What she wanted to know was what had happened to her daughter and to Mulder.
The sound of several pairs of footsteps echoed down the corridor outside and Maggie was struck by the ridiculous idea that she should hide. Somehow the idea carried itself out and she hid behind a screen which had been placed at one end of the room to hide the buffet lunch that had been laid out for the consortium.
“The release of the bees went as planned?” Cancerman asked, as he walked into the room. The uniformed man who had traveled with him in the elevator at the bunker back in the US walked in after him.
“Exactly as scheduled sir.”
“And all essential staff have been given the vaccine?”
“Yes sir.”
“Good.” Cancerman said flatly. “Location reports?”
“Right sir.” The man read from his clipboard. “Miss Mulder is currently attempting to recover Agents Mulder and Scully. Their location at this time is assumed to be within the vault. Mrs. Mulder and Mrs. Scully are watching events in the lower viewing box. The men formerly known as the Consortium are under protective custody and on their way to the location near Jerusalem as per your orders.”
“Fine. Now I want regularly updated reports on their locations from now on. The next stages shall be critical and most go exactly as planned.”
“Yes sir.” He saluted and left.
Maggie stepped out from behind the screen. Cancerman had been watching Smith on the screen, but turned at the sound.
“What are you doing Robert?” She demanded flatly.
“Carrying out my plans. As I always intended to. I hope you wont get in my way Maggie?”
“You didn’t even try to stop the bees from being released.” She said accusingly.
“Why would I want to? Power needs a purpose to survive. I get to choose who lives and dies. The ultimate power.”
“I wont let you. Fox and Dana wont let you.”
“What can they do? They’re under my power now too. If they were a threat then they would never get out of the vault.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Wrong. I choose not to. They are important to my creation of a new order of power. Jeremiah Smith is too.”
“World domination?” Maggie asked incredulously. “That’s more for comic book villains than real life, isn’t it?” She mocked.
“It’s a fact.”
Maggie shook her head disbelievingly and made for the door.
“Where are you going?” He demanded.
“To talk to Rebecca.” She said.
“Stop right there.” He said firmly. When Maggie turned back to him the first thing she saw was the gun aimed at her. “You wont get a chance to say anything to Rebecca.” He said desperately. Maggie’s eyes widened.
“No!” She exclaimed softly.
The silencer deadened the shot and Rebecca would never have known that he had fired it, if she hadn’t that instant stepped into the doorway. His panic-stricken eyes met hers over the dead body of Margaret Scully.
“Why?” She demanded horrified.
“I did it for you. Everything for you. I wanted to give you the world.”
“For me? You perpetrated this horror for me?” She stared at him disbelievingly. “I despise you. All I ever wanted was my husband and my children to love. You destroyed all that for me.”
“I love you. I helped you.”
“Love? You call this love?”
“I wanted us to rule the world together.”
“No. I wont do that.” She held her hand out to him. “Give me the gun Robert.”
His eyes swam with tears, but he handed her the gun. She removed the silencer like an experienced gun user and, to his horror, she placed the gun to her temple.
“It’s not my hand on the trigger.” She told him. “It’s yours. I should have died, but you saved me. You’re righting that wrong.” She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry Fox. I’m sorry Samantha.” She pulled the trigger.
Cancerman closed his eyes and looked away as the gunshot sounded, but he was standing close enough to be splattered by her blood. <I need a cigarette> Then he cried.
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The Great Pyramid
00:41
Samantha was attempting to get back to the location where they had entered the catacombs, but people were milling about freely on the site now. Jeremiah Smith had captivated them and people were repeating his words almost mindlessly. Samantha shut them out for fear of getting sucked into the insanity which was occurring here. She had to fight her way through.
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The spaceship
00:41
The ship was glowing blue-white, but Mulder and Scully had given up trying to stop it.
“Where do you supposed it’s programmed to go?” Scully asked, whilst lounging in one of the surprisingly comfortable control chairs. Not that they *were* in control of anything on board the ship.
“Reticula?” Mulder suggested flippantly and Scully shot him a comfortable smile. He was seated in the other chair. “You seem surprisingly cool about this minor crisis Scully.” He commented. She shrugged.
“It seems I was wrong. I’m big enough to admit it when faced with *this* much evidence.” She joked and Mulder grinned. “One way or another we seem to be related to these aliens.”
“Then maybe killing one of them was *not* a good way to introduce ourselves.” Mulder remarked.
“If that wall is anything to go by, they already know about us.”
Lights began flashing wildly on the control panels. Mulder and Scully looked at each other seriously.
“This is it.” Mulder told her.
“I guess so.” She replied.
The ship began to move from it’s stone supports.
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The Viewing Box
Cancerman was still crying over Rebecca when the ground began to shake.
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The Great Pyramid
Samantha was caught in the crush when the ground starting to rock and roll under her feet. People were shrieking and running away from the Pyramids. The giant blocks were wobbling and beginning to fall. Jeremiah Smith advised calm and declared it to be a sign. A good sign naturally. Samantha wasn’t so sure. She decided to run.
< “This is gonna blow your socks off Sammy.” > Mulder’s voice said inside her head.
< “No shit!”> She replied, whilst she dodged people.
< “You better not be anywhere near the pyramids Sam.” > Scully informed her.
< “Then we have a problem.” > She returned sarcastically.
< “You better run.” > Mulder told her.
< “Could you two shut up for a second while I do just that!” >
Behind her, large splits began to appear in the ground. Sand slithered it’s way into the cracks like water flowing downhill, looking as though all the sand in the desert would be pulled into them. Then the rumbling noise began. The movement of the earth overturned the lighting towers, plunging the site into abrupt darkness. Small fire broke out in places. The ripples in the ground grew stronger. The noise intensified. Then light began to spill up from inside the earth itself.
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The Viewing Box
Cancerman stood watching through the window as the pyramids themselves crumbled into dust and sank into the earth. Even as they did another object began to ascend. The light grew blinding, but a shape was visible at the centre. A triangular spaceship.
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The spaceship
Ripping a spaceship out from underground was not easy and was about as pleasant for it’s occupants as it was for those on the surface. The ship rocked and shook, but Mulder and Scully clung together through it all and then the ship was free and the ride was smooth. They looked out through the viewscreen which had appeared in front of them. Through the dust it was just possible to make out the desert plateau on which the mighty pyramids and the Sphinx had once stood. It was rubble. People were scrambling for their lives.
“Mulder,” Scully began in a tired tone. “I think that we just *became* an x file.”
“You could be right.” They exchanged a wary expression, then returned their attention to the viewer.
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The Viewing Box
Cancerman just *knew* that Mulder and Scully were on that ship. Yet again they had upset his plans and he was sure that they would be back to do it again.
He looked down at the bodies that still lay on the floor of the room. He hardened his heart. Now there was just him.
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Samantha watched the ship past the swirling dust cloud.
< “What an exit.” > She told them sardonically.
< “If there’s any way back..”> Mulder told her.
< “Don’t hurry on my account. Hurry for the sake of the human race. With CM in charge who knows what’ll happen.” > Samantha replied.
< “Take care of the X Files.” > Scully told her and Mulder laughed. < “I don’t know how we’ll explain this to Skinner.” >
< “One torch. One knife. Two guns. Oh yeah and the site of an ancient monument.” > Mulder recounted.
< “Good luck, wherever you end up.” > Samantha told them sincerely.
< “What a turnaround, eh Sammy!” > Were Mulder’s last words to his sister.
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The spaceship
Mulder turned to Scully with a wide smile.
“You know, I always fancied the idea of you and me walking off into a picture-book sunset.”
“I don’t know you were a romantic Mulder.”
“Neither did I.”
“It’s not exactly a sunset.”
“It’s very *us* though.”
“Yes Mulder, it is.”
They kissed and the spaceship ascended to the stars.
THE END
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(hey! – hang on a second: that was way *too* sappy an ending <g>)
Epilogue
They were followed by a smaller triangular craft, the occupant of which smiled at the thought of the reception that Mulder and Scully would receive which they got where they were going.
The Bounty Hunter smiled, but it didn’t really look much like a smile. Then he reverted to his true form; grey scaly skin, oval head, slanted eyes and switched the craft onto auto-pilot so that it could follow Mulder and Scully’s ship back to his home.
POST SCRIPT:
Location: Dallas, Texas
Date: Jan 4th 2000
Name: John Adams
Official cause of death: Anaphylatic shock (caused by bee sting)
Location: Edinburgh, UK
Date: March 26th 2000
Name: Anastasia West
Official cause of death: Anaphylatic shock (caused by bee sting)
Location: Calais, France
Date: August 9th 2000
Name: Pierre Sadin
Official cause of death: Anaphylatic shock (caused by bee sting)
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Date: Feb 10th 2001
Name: Andrea Bradstreet
Official cause of death: Anaphylatic shock (caused by bee sting)
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Date: April 18th 2001
Name: Lois Walker
Official cause of death: Anaphylactic shock (caused by bee sting)
Extract only! – Level Six Classification clearance required
SOURCE: CDC report dated: 12/31/16